Back to search

Is it permissible to literally translate the meanings of the Holy Quran into a foreign language?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is no religious impediment to translating the meanings of the Holy Quran into any other language, provided that the translator is trustworthy and knowledgeable, because the Quran was revealed for all people, and translating its meanings facilitates its accessibility to them. As for literal translation, it is not permissible due to the vastness of the Arabic language and its eloquent styles, which cause literal translation to alter the meaning. An example of this is translating "هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَّهُنَّ" (They are a garment for you, and you are a garment for them) to mean "they are trousers for you, and you are trousers for them," whereas the intended meaning is tranquility and covering. Likewise, it is not permissible to write Arabic Quranic words using foreign letters, as this involves distortion and alteration of some letters that do not exist in other languages. Scholars have agreed on the necessity of adhering to writing the Mus'haf with Arabic letters as they were written in the Uthmanic Mus'hafs.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy